ASSISTANT Birmingham City manager Colin Calderwood insists he is with Blues for the long haul after linking up with Chris Hughton for the third time.

Sacked as Hibernian manager in early November, Calderwood would have probably not had to wait long before the offer of a job as number one came along from a lower-division club in England.

But when the 46-year-old took a call from Hughton, whom he knows well from their time at Spurs and Newcastle, asking him to become number two at St Andrew’s, he did not hesitate.

And now Calderwood intends to help Hughton build a big future for what he insists is a big club.

“The two main factors you look at are the level of the club and the person who is managing the club,” he said. “I looked at those two things and that’s why I was happy to forfeit waiting to see if a manager’s job came up elsewhere.

“Chris has given me this opportunity so I owe him a bit of loyalty. It’s not as if I am in the starting blocks looking for the next manager’s job to come up somewhere then off I go. This is my time to come to Birmingham and work properly.

“It has worked out terrifically well for me. I have landed at a very good club and it makes it easier working with people I know, not just Chris but Paul Trollope and Dave Watson who I have worked with before.

“In the end it’s all about players so you have to put the right environment in place to allow good players to display their talent with freedom.

“That’s the key to the way we have to work. And we have a management team with experience between us at all levels of the game so we have good knowledge of everything around us, below us and above.

“Personally, I am delighted to be here. Professionally, even more so. I am really looking forward to the challenge in a division I know reasonably well. Now hopefully we can move forward.

“The short-term is important, the immediate week ahead and then January and what happens there - we have to cover those bases. But you hopefully get the time to develop a medium and long-term plan and the long-term for this club with its history and tradition and support which makes it a famous club, is very exciting.”

Calderwood has brought plenty of experience from coaching and management roles at Northampton, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle though his most recent job at Hibs did not work out well. He was sacked after guiding his team to only 12 wins in 49 matches.

“I didn’t achieve the success I wanted to there so that makes you bring even more experience and drive to your next job,” he said.

“Hibernian have a very talented group of players that will flourish, I am sure. I am just disappointed in myself that I didn’t give them the results they deserve. I should have had better results this year than I did.”